MotoGP

In the first Grand Prix practice session of the new ‘Open’ class era it was Espargaro in P1 with his Open entry Forward Yamaha with a 1’55.201 best lap, with Bautista 0.466s behind him.

Espargaro’s pace was over 0.3s slower than he went in testing here two weeks ago. The day was not without incident for him as he received a fine for speeding in the pit lane.

At the start of his second season in MotoGP Smith was third by a 0.6s margin, with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) also in top five as the riders who tested in Qatar occupying the top end of the timesheet. The younger Espargaro brother appears to be riding smoothly despite his collarbone injury sustained ten days ago at this track.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were the quickest Factory riders in sixth and seventh, whilst the top ten was completed by Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar).

World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was 11th as he tested his fitness after breaking his right leg in preseason, whilst Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) finished 15th and went for a scan after walking away from a turn 16 crash which caused a brief red flag due to track debris.

 

Moto2

Nakagami’s rapid 2’00.522 best effort came in the last minute of the session with Rabat just +0.052 behind.

The 2012 Moto3 World Champion Cortese was 0.15s off P1 in third, whilst the 2013 Moto3 title winner Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) was fourth and the ever consistent Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) completed the top five.

Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), Alex De Angelis (Tasca Racing Moto2), Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing), Jonas Folger (AGR Team) and FP1 leader Mika Kallio Marc (VDS Racing Team) were all present in the top ten.

Sam Lowes (Speed Up) and his fellow rookie Tetsuta Nagashima (Teluru Team JiR Webike) both walked away from crashes during the session, as they learned the way with their respective new machines.

 

Moto3

The fastest ever Moto3 lap of the Losail Circuit, a 2’06.168s, was registered by Fenati as the lightweight class riders increased the pace in FP2.

Kornfeil was in P1 with a 2’06.190s lap in the final stages before Fenati stepped it up again, having also topped FP1. Miller also looked good in his second session with KTM Ajo as the top three riders all showed their pace with their respective new teams.

Niccolo Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN) and Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) were also in the top five, both within half a second of Fenati.

The top ten was completed by Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0), Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team),John McPhee (SaxoPrint-RTG), Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46).

There was a light crash for Ana Carrasco (RW Racing GP) as she got her second year in Grand Prix underway, but she quickly remounted and rode away.

Source: motogp.com